Day 32, Post 30: In an earlier post I mistakenly referred to Drifter Jack's in Austin as Diamond Jack's. I apologize for the error. And I'll add that if you like hostels you'll love the place if you are ever in Austin.
I left LaGrange, TX this morning after a great omelette and a short stack of pancakes. I rarely eat pancakes at home, but boy, do I enjoy them facing a day of riding! I have to say I'm finding some great restaurants in small town Texas - food seems to be a serious business all over Texas. And I have gained a new respect for Tex-Mex. It's so much more than one is exposed to up north. Forexample, last night I had some grilled catfish tacos that were excellent. I'm entering Cajun country now, so I have an entire new local gastronomy to experience...
After about 20 miles of cycling I was about ten miles out of Round Top. I didn't know what I was going to be cycling past, so I was surprised to fine myself in antique country in the first day of an antique festival. Round Top, a town of 90 permanent residents, seems to be the epicenter of what is one of the great antique, chatzke and crap acquisition capitals of the world. The traffic was intense and the road shoulder was terrible so I wasn't comfortable stopping. The opportunity to sell antiquities is so tempting that every ranch for a good ten miles after Round Top had a barn devoted to selling antiques, perhaps in the hopes that tourists would stop there thinking they had arrived in Round Top. But once you get there, Round Top is unmistakable - miles of tents, barns, and storage units devoted to selling anything and everything you could ever want to make your home as charming and cute as ever. You can even buy Texaco Gas Station signs to install in your yard. Or perhaps on that amazing cathedral ceiling you always longed for. You can also get full size sculptures of wooden buffalos, bulls, horses and mastodons...
Check out my road cycling activity on Garmin Connect.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1642366853
Pic 1, An attractive and iconic Texan oak tree.
Pic 2, Doesn't everyone need one of these?
Pic 3, Field of Goldeneye and Texas Paintbrush.
Pic 4, What you see is what you get.
More to come,
Michael